Full Circle: 7/1/13

Our precious baby boy, Thomas Charles John Long, entered the world at 1:13pm on Wednesday, June 19th, 2013 at Covenant hospital in Saginaw. We arrived at the hospital just after midnight, leaving the girls behind at the house with Nana. Contractions had started at 4:30pm, but it wasn't until later in the evening that I determined that these contractions weren't teasing me, but were indeed leading to our son's birthday.

Toby arrived home from work feeling a bit under the weather. In fact, after the girls were in bed for the night (totally unaware that I was having contractions), I discovered Toby sound asleep in our bed, lights on and propped up in a sitting position, his mouth wide and snoring. That gave me a good half hour of quiet in the house, contractions getting stronger and stronger. Me wondering what the night would hold.

Toby woke up a bit later, feeling better, and I let him know that the contractions had continued. I spent a lot of the evening picking up the house, cleaning, and re-packing my hospital bag. Finally by 9:30 or so, we asked my mom to come over and spend the night just in case. We called our OB, and Dr. Llewelyn agreed that this was "probably the real deal." And sure enough after 11pm, I made the decision to go to the hospital. The contractions were still somewhat irregular, but I was worried about not feeling the baby move as much. I felt it was best to get hooked up to a monitor and make sure baby boy was okay.

By midnight we had arrived at Covenant Hospital. And not too long later I was admitted. I received an epidural sometime later (maybe 4am). This wonder drug worked miracles and both Toby and I were able to sleep on and off for the next couple of hours, until my water was broken around 6:30am.

I continued to labor throughout the day until I reached 10 cm close to 1pm. It didn't take many pushes, and by 1:13pm, Thomas Charles John Long was born. He didn't cry right away and had to be suctioned quite a bit. Apparently, the cord had been wrapped around his neck and there was even concern that he needed to be intubated. Thankfully, Thomas began to cry and breathe well on his own in a short time.

After he was cleaned up a bit, he was put on my chest and we had a wonderful hour or so of cuddling and nursing. It was perfect. Then they took his measurements. He was our biggest baby, weighing in at 8lbs. 4oz. and 19 1/2 inches long.